Dracula (Castlevania)
Count Vlad Tepes Dracula is the primary antagonist of the Castlevania/''Akumajo Dracula'' videogame franchise. He is a former Holy Knight who renounced God following the Death of his wife and became the Lord of Darkness, the personification of Chaos, source of all Evil. He is based on Bram Stoker's character, in turn based on the infamous Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia. His tragic Start of Darkness was inspired by the 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola. Dracula appears as a completely different character in the Lords of Shadow reboot series. He is once again a Holy Knight turned evil by the death of his wife, but he transitions from heroes to villain protagonist, before his final redemption. Appearance Dracula looks like a classical Vampire Lord, with chalk-white skin and red eyes, clad in rich medieval attire and a long, high-collared black and red cape. However, depictions vary from game to game. The early games depict Dracula looking like Bela Lugosi's portrayal in the 1931 Dracula film; clad in the "classical" tuxedo and cape, and occasionally with grey hair. Symphony of the Night set his aspect as a tall, elderly and noble-looking vampire with long grey hair, a moustache and a goatee, wearing an ornate coat and the "classical" cape. He is sometimes portrayed with ornate robes, and sometimes younger. When fought as a boss, Dracula almost always transforms into a gigantic demon of variable aspect, who most often resembles a humanoid monster with horns and bat-like wings. His most common demon form appears as a dark blue demon, looking like a mix between a dragon and a gargoyle, with wings attached to his arms, which was also seen looking like a black, bat-like demon; but he has also been depicted resembling a Mesopotamian-looking idol, an insectoid dragon, or a purple devil. In some cases, he has turned into a giant bat, an immense vampiric face, a gigantic and devilish goat head, or turned his cape into a repellent amalgamation of demonic figures with giant arms and wings. Personality Dracula is cruel, ruthless, hateful and disdainful, yet poised and regal, with aristocratic manners and imposing presence. He is very courteous and well-spoken, usually greeting the heroes and discussing their motives, though he frequently laces it with sarcasm and dark humour. There are games however in which he displays nothing but scathing spite and arrogant taunts. He is cordial to his high-ranking generals and generous to those who resurrect him, granting their wishes if they pledge obedience. Yet, he is unforgiving to traitors, manipulative of his servants, and not above killing people he dislikes on the spot. He is finally highly intelligent and cunning: manipulating unsuspecting people, acting through proxies, or scheming to confuse the heroes and plague them if they win. Lisa's death caused Dracula to loathe mankind, whom he regards as petty, greedy and worthless. He states that everyone, including the heroes who confront him, has Darkness in their hearts and should stop denying their selfish desires. He also states that there is no freedom and that people are willing slaves to their religions; which he compares to his own harvest of human souls. Finally, he describes humanity’s ambition and violence as the reason he keeps coming back. Dracula often taunts his foes, telling them that they struggle in vain and that he will always return despite their best effort. He is very, though rightly, confident in his abilities and considers himself superior to any opponent. However, his softer side resurfaces when confronting his son or remembering his wives. Even in battle, he does not bear ill will towards Alucard, and he has once expressed regret over his evil ways after being reminded of Lisa's last wish. Powers and Influence Dracula is frighteningly powerful. It has been speculated, but not confirmed, that the longer he is around, the younger and mightier he becomes. When he unleashes his full might, he becomes a huge demon and his power skyrockets. He wields the power of Dominance (to absorb the souls and powers of any being), Mimicry (to copy someone else's power), and Hellfire (to conjure and shape fire from Hell itself). He can sense people's presence and connections to others; manifest himself where he is not physically present; create and transform immense locations like his Haunted Castle that he completely controls. He can also cause disasters, plagues and rains of blood; cast an everlasting night on his domain; drag his foes into hellish planes; possess things and people; and cast a wide array of curses over entire countries, to the point of withering the land and corrupting the population even after his death. Dracula has complete control over Evil and Hell. He draws power from the Chaotic Realm in which human malice gathers. All monsters and malevolent beings pledge loyalty to him; most regarding him as a "savior" able to cleanse the world anew. His mere presence is enough to drive normal people mad and to corrupt his surroundings. He is also able to increase the evil in people’s hearts and to surround himself with evil energy or pure Darkness. Dracula is unmatched in the common vampiric powers. In addition to turning into a wolf, a bat or a cloud of mist, he can turn into a gigantic swarm of bats or a cloud of poison, and change his cape into bat-like wings or worse. He has incredible strength and he can compel hordes of animals, control the weather, and drain blood at mere contact. Not only Dracula "lives" forever, but he can only be harmed when struck in the head or the chest with specific weapons. Even worse, he always resurrects 100 years after being killed, when enough human malice gathers. Not counting those who resurrect him through Dark Rituals. ''Castlevania'' Netflix Series Count Vlad Tepes Dracula is the main villain of the Netflix cartoon adaptation based on Dracula's Curse. The story is set in medieval Romania, and follows the games' background, but hints that Dracula might have been the infamous Prince Vlad III of Wallachia instead of Mathias Cronqvist, or both. Season One The story starts in 1455. There, Dracula is an extremely powerful Vampire Lord expert in many forms of science and sorcery, much like his original novel counterpart, brooding, solitary and misanthropic, but not fully evil. He lives in a castle which he can make travel everywhere, filled with all sort of technology replicated from what he saw when scrying into the future; a nod to the many anachronisms and to the Castlevania's ever-changing location in the games. A young woman named Lisa Fahrenheit, training in science and medicine, comes to his castle surrounded by hundreds of impaled skeletons to ask for his tutelage, while resisting his intimidation attempts and offering to teach him to reconcile with the world in exchange. Impressed by her resolve, Dracula gives her access to all his enormous resources. As time goes by, they fall in love, marry and have a son, Alucard. She even inspires Dracula to travel as a human, to learn more about the world. Alas, twenty years later, while Dracula was travelling away, Lisa was captured by a fanatical, corrupt, power-hungry and retrograde bishop and burned at the stake for witchcraft. When Dracula comes back to their house and find it in ruins, he learns from an old neighbour lady that it is already too late. Maddened with grief, Dracula laments that he could have been on time to save her had he used magic. He warns the neighbour to flee the country with her family, to escape his revenge. He disappears in a pillar of fire and manifests in the pyre flames as a giant, fiery head, cursing the townspeople for burning an innocent physician. Rebuked by the Bishop who dismisses him as a myth, he gives the Vallachian population one year to put their business in order or flee, before he wipes them from the map. As an enraged Dracula prepares to raise an army of monsters from Hell itself by next year, Alucard attempts to talk him out of it, as innocents like Lisa would suffer. Dracula retorts that there are no innocents for they would have stood for her, attacking him in blind rage and grievously wounding him with a claw swipe. One year later, during a ceremony, the Archbishop of Targoviste brags foolishly that the promises of doom by "the devil" were but lies, blood starts raining over the city and the stained-glass windows of the cathedral shatter, with the shards impaling the Archbishop and his attendants. The cathedral suddenly sets itself ablaze and Dracula manifests in the fire, cursing the crowd for celebrating instead of heeding his warning. All windows open, letting out legions of winged demons who horribly slaughtering everyone around. As the Castlevania rises over the city in a blazing inferno, Dracula manifests as thousands of ravens, ordering his forces to destroy the entire country, town by town. However, a man named Trevor Belmont, armed with the Holy Vampire Killer whip sets out to defeat the vampire, engaging both the monsters and the corrupt agents of the Bishop who killed Lisa. Trevor protects a group of scholars called the Speakers from the Bishop, who excommunicated the Belmont Clan and burned their mansion, and is now using the chaos to take control of the country, scapegoating anyone opposing him for the monsters' invasion. Trevor saves the Chief Speaker's granddaughter, the mage Sypha Belnades who was turned into stone by a Cyclops. Later, as the Bishop is killed by a powerful demon who gleefully reveals that his actions disgust God so much that he no longer protects him, before ironically thanking him for enabling their rise on Earth, Trevor reveals the Bishop's corruption and lies, and helped by a pure-hearted priest and the Speakers, organizes the population of the city of Gresit to successfully fight back against Dracula's hordes. Then, Trevor and Sypha venture in the crypt and meet Alucard, who just recovered. Together, they form an alliance to stop his father and save Wallachia before it is too late. Season Two Dracula spends most of his time watching the fire in the hearth of his study, no longer drinking blood, no longer caring about anything. He assembles his generals in the Castlevania, gathering many powerful Vampire Lords and Ladies and their armies, along with two human Devil Forgemasters, Hector and Isaac, much to the vampires' outrage. He reasons that contrary to them who obey him to drink blood from humans en masse, they renounced their kind out of loyalty to his cause, having experienced first-hand how cruel humanity can be. Dracula spends most of his time watching the fire in the hearth of his study, no longer drinking blood, no longer caring about anything. He assembles his generals in the Castlevania, gathering many powerful Vampire Lords and Ladies and their armies, along with two human Devil Forgemasters, Hector and Isaac, much to the vampires’ outrage. He reasons that contrary to them who obey him to drink blood from humans en masse, they renounced their kind out of loyalty to his cause, having experienced first-hand how cruel humanity can be. Dracula later teleports the Castlevania away from the ruins of Targoviste. As discord reigns among his war council, Carmilla, the last Vampire Noble recruited by Dracula, appears, announcing that his demon hordes were defeated in Gresit. She then dares asking why Dracula did not made his wife a vampire. After a private discussion, Dracula orders her to work with the Devil Forgemasters. They later learn that Trevor, Sypha and Alucard teamed up. Dracula later teleports the Castlevania away from the ruins of Targoviste. As discord reigns among his war council, Carmilla, the last Vampire Noble recruited by Dracula, appears, announcing that his demon hordes were defeated in Gresit. She then dares asking why Dracula did not made his wife a vampire. After a private discussion, Dracula orders her to work with the Devil Forgemasters. They later learn that Trevor, Sypha and Alucard teamed up. The Viking Vampire Godbrand confronts Dracula, expressing worries that killing all humans would doom vampires as well, but Dracula cowers him with words alone, stating in all but words that he does not hold vampires in much higher esteem than humans, regarding them as parasites. Dracula knows full well that his generals are turning against him, which Carmilla does, with only Isaac being fully loyal. He discusses with him about his plans, and states that Isaac is the only one he can consider a friend. Indeed, the vampires only obey him out of fear of his power, but worry that his plan will bring everyone, alive and undead, down with him, which they want to avert. As Isaac kills Godbrand for insubordination, Dracula ponders that even killing humans only brings him indifference, contrary to the past times, during which he methodically slaughtered forty merchants for merely disrespecting him, burning the city of Kronstadt and impaling them, sparing only women and children, making leather from his victim’s skins as book covers. He teleports the Castlevania into the city of Braila, which his forces start slaughtering. He enables his council to do as they please so long as they leave no survivor, prompting Carmilla to secretly take control and overwhelm his armies of vampires with her own, leading an attack on the Castlevania. Just as Dracula is about to enter the fray and deal with Carmilla’s forces himself, Sypha uses a mirror and a spell she found in the Belmont Estate to teleport the Castlevania in the river, destroying most of the vampires, forcing Carmilla and Hector, now her slave, to barely escape. Sypha teleports the Castlevania over the Belmont Estate and the trio storms the castle, slaughtering every vampire without troubles. Isaac is ready to fight to the death for his lord, but Dracula, touched by his devotion, teleports him to safety through a magic mirror. Dracula greets his son, who states that the war is over, and reminds him that he was powerless to stop him before. Alucard retorts that this time he is not alone, and the three heroes engage the decisive battle against the King of the Night. Contrary to the games, Dracula never teleports and fights with his firsts and claws, overwhelming even experts warrior with his immense strength and speed. Even greatly weakened by years of starvation, he effortlessly withstands their attacks. He knocks Alucard down, throws Sypha away and catches Trevor, recognizing him as a Belmont and preparing to end his line, but his friends save him, enabling him to land a decisive blow with the Vampire Killer Morningstar Whip. Exasperated, he casts "Dark Inferno" and hurls a gigantic fiery sphere, which they can only resist by combining all their strength. As the fight against a now livid Dracula becomes even more violent and erratic, Alucard battles him ahead of his comrades, telling him that they both know he wants to die, having been dead inside ever since the day he lost Lisa. Alucard calling his war "History’s longest suicide note." The Climax As father and son continue to battle, wrecking the castle corridors on their wake, they crash into Alucard’s childhood bedroom. It is only there that Dracula finally comes to his senses. Lamenting with his voice laced with tears how he is destroying the only family he has left. Broken by regrets and shame, he does not lift a finger when Alucard rips a bedpost to stake him, and dies in an aborted embrace. Trevor then beheads him and Sypha incinerates him. As everything is done, a heartbroken Alucard plans for the Castlevania to become his tomb, but Trevor convinces him to guard the treasures and libraries of the castle and the Belmont Estate, and make him a symbol of peace instead of terror. Sypha and Trevor then leave, hinting a blossoming romance. Alas, Carmilla is still around, and she uses Hector to rebuild an army of monsters, while Isaac is building his own army of undeads, meaning that the troubles are not fully over. Gallery DRACULA APOCALYPSE -ORIGINAL GAME SOUNDTRACK- 29 Third Struggle - Dance of Illusions Trivia *In Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Dracula's appearance resembles that of a grim reaper instead of a vampire. 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